Why does Thomas Jefferson end up writing the Declaration of Independence?
Actually, the Declaration of Independence was a joint effort with Jefferson doing most of the writing and many others, including the people you mention, editing. Thomas Jefferson had the time, the talent and the willingness to take on this task. Ben Franklin and John Adams had been getting the country and the continent ready for this bid for independence for years. Both Franklin and Adams spent their own wealth and every effort in France and Holland to get the backing of these important European players. They had worked and negotiated with all of the Continental Congress delegates to try to reach a unanimous vote on independence. They were stretched too thin to take on the Declaration. Adams also knew that Jefferson, who had a fire for independence within him, was too aloof to do much politicking for the break from England. This was a way to use Jefferson’s great powers as a rational thinker and his gift of language for the cause. He admitted that he himself (Adams) was too well known
